Because dunhuang is located in Western China and bordering Xinjiang Province, its cuisine is greatly influenced by the nomads, Grilled Mutton being the most popular dish in both restaurants and hotels in this vibrant city. Shazhou nightmarket will be a good place to try all local flavors.

Developed and improved by Zhao Chang'an (master chef andrestaurateur),Dunhuang Dishes are recognized as one of the New Eight Cuisines of China. Firstly, we will introduce some traditional dishes.

Camel Hoof on Silk Road (Si Lu Tuo Zhang)
A dish, also known as Camel Hoof on Jokul, gained its name for the shape that is like camel prints on the Jokul. It is a well known fact that the camel is the most important means of transportation along the ancient Silk Road. They can travel across the arid desert for great distance, aided by their four broad feet. Actually Camel Hoof  is the tendon with a lot of nutritions.  People hardly ever kill camels, and with its long life span, the hoof  is difficult to be found, and is almost asprecious as bear palm. To prepare the hoof, clean and marinate it in water until soft, then flavor with some seasoning and steam it together with a chicken for seven or eight hours till the bones can be easily removed. Cut the hoof into pieces, add flavors braised in bamboo steamer for two or three hours.Finally, use egg white to make the jokul, put them together and make a shape ofcamel hoof on Jokul.

Quick-frying Hump
Cut the Camel hump into regular pieces or shredding and quick-fry them. Flavor with seasonings, the fresh, soft and tasteful Quick-frying Hump will be cooked.
The above dishes usually use Camels that die naturally, or are old and infirm as the ingredient. They are delicacies, and you should expect to pay accordingly. The local snacks are also attractive.Here we have some recommended local flavorswith simple introduction.

Yellow noodles with donkey meat (Lv Rou Huang Mian)

It is a special dish combined hand- made yellow noodle with donkey meat, which is compared favourably with the meat of dragon in the heaven. Although this dish can beoffered in many restaurants, the traditional restaurant is strongly recommended,which is named “Yellow noodle and donkey meat restaurant of Shun Zhang” in the old market of Dunhuang.

Roast whole lamb

This can be a very big dish for over 5 people to share. The lamb with good quality will be chosen and be roasted by fruitwood in the traditional kiln. The whole roast lamb will be offered with mutton entrails soup, special bread and cold vegetables together.

Sweet oil cake with bubbles (Pao Er You Gao)

The oil cake is a delicious dish with the fillings of brown sugar wrapped by special dough. After it is fried from oil , it looks pretty golden yellow . After fried above the surface of it some bubbles appear, where the name originally come from.

Hang-pull noodles (La Tiao Zi)

It is a very popular home cooked dish in dunhuang. The dish is mixed by hand pulled noodles with fried eggplant,green pepper and tomatoes.